MIAMI (April 26, 2019) – The FIU baseball team stumbled to visiting Charlotte on Friday night in a 6-3 decision to open the longest home swing of the 2019 campaign.   

FIU drops to 17-24 and 7-12 in Conference USA play. Charlotte sits at 15-25-1 and 6-12-1 following Friday's result.
 
Logan Allen was handed the loss despite pitching seven innings of four-run ball with six strikeouts on the night. Charlotte's Ryan Czanstkowski was given the win for pitching five innings of three-run ball.  
 
The duo of Derek Cartaya and Jose Garcia led the Panther offense with the infielders tallying two base knocks. Garcia drove in all three Panther runs on the night to give the sophomore 30 RBIs on the season.
 
Charlotte opened the scoring with one in the second and one in the third to take a 2-0 lead, before Austin Shenton doubled to right center to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Garcia tied the game two batters later with a blast to left for his team-leading 10th homer of the season and seventh since April 1.
 
The 49ers answered in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run of their own to regain the lead. Javier Valdes scored from second on a Garcia single after doubling to right to start the home half of the sixth. Garcia's second base hit of the night cut the Charlotte lead to 4-3.
 
Charlotte pushed across one run in eighth and another in the ninth before fending off a potential Panther comeback in the ninth to take the series opener, 6-3. Colby Bruce was given a six-out save.  
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers and the 49ers are back at Saturday night for 90s night at the FIU Baseball Stadium. The night will serve as a celebration of all things from the 1990s. Tickets to this weekend's games can be purchased online at tickets.fiusports.com or by phone at 305-FIU-GAME.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUBaseball on Facebook and @FIUBaseball on Twitter and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.